Walton Heath Old Course vs New Course Matchplay

[Mark Chaplin]

To be fair Tony you hit it where you aimed it and it was a very good shot, poor hosting from DW who noticed your alignment before you hit the shot!

[Sean_A]

I have no idea about the New's 8th, but the Old's was the least enjoyable hole on the course for me.  The noise around the green is deafening and the hole isn't anything special, though the green is quite good.  I confess to looking at the tees for the 8th and saying stuff that walk - not doing it (I find myself doing this more and more).  Played from the ladies tee, it could be a better hole from there because the trouble of the green is accentuated by the longer approach. 

Ciao

[Michael Felton]

On to the 9th.

The Old:



The New:



A couple of par 4s here. On the Old, around 400 yards or so. There is a band of trees on the left of the fairway and as usual heather everywhere else. The hole doglegs from right to left and the shape of the green makes you want to keep it as right as possible, but still in the fairway. Instinctively on the tee though you want to cut it close to the dogleg to shorten things as much as possible. The green has something of a kidney shape with a gaping bunker in the front left of the green. That bunker is really big too. If you're in the back of it, you've got a lot of sand to cover on the way to the green. It also does a good job of protecting the left portion of the green and just about all of it from the left side of the fairway, hence the desire to keep to the right off the tee. Over the back of the green are some mounds that can play havoc with an overhit approach. I like this hole.

The New. I don't like this hole. The tee forces you to hit a pretty big fade to hit the fairway. There's then a band of heather across the fairway that prevents you from hitting it too far and if you miss the fairway and have anything other than a great lie (of which there are very few) you have to lay back for your second shot. All of which leaves you with an approach shot of around 200 yards, either for your second or third shots. It all plays uphill and the green is virtually indiscernible from the surrounding fairway. That makes the approach very difficult to judge. I always feel on the back foot playing this hole. It's quite narrow and feels more so because of the angles.

The Old wins this one.

New 1 up

[Michael Felton]

On to the 10th.

The Old:



The New:



Here we have a mid length par 4 up against quite a long par 3. The 10th on the Old is one of my favourite holes on the courses. It's a dogleg to the right and in the left side of the fairway is a bunker. If you go in it you can forget hitting the green in regulation. It's got a pretty big face on it and will necessitate pitching out. As a result, it has a tendency to push the player towards the right side from the tee. Down the right is no picnic if you miss though. There are a few trees down the right that will block a recovery attempt if you're lucky enough to catch a lie. There are several humps and hollows down the right, all of which are heather laden. Then the hole turns quite late to the right and there's a cavernous bunker that fills the front right of the green. That bunker means that you really want to be playing your approach shot from the left side. So the best option is to play as far to the left as you dare while still avoiding that bunker. The hole plays around 380 or so from the regular tees, although there is a back tee that's at around 440. It's quite a beast from back there. These days from the forward tees, the bunker is carryable, which has somewhat removed the difficulty of this hole, but there is some quite thick underbrush if you hit it over the bunker and tweak it a little. Don't miss this green to the right. There is a drop off of around 4-5 feet on the right hand side past the bunker. Requires a deft tough to get it down in two and if the bunker/trouble on the right forces you to the left, you have a downhill testy chip to deal with. This hole exhibits a lot of things that I like in golf architecture. On both tee shot and second shot, the "safe" play leaves you with a harder next shot. If you want the good line at the flag, flirt with the fairway bunker and if you want the uphill putt you have to flirt with that front bunker by the green. This green is also one that has baffled me completely. I have hit putts where I would read them breaking 2 feet right to left and they actually go a foot the other way. Can make you look really silly. I figure it must be an optical illusion of some kind with the way the green is shelf like into the bank. The hole overall exhibits quite a lot of elevation change and is one of the most undulating on the course.

The New we have the final par three of the round. It plays around 195 or so from the back and 170 from the regular tees. It has some very interesting bunkering up by the green, including one that has a small island in the middle of it. Not a good spot to be that one. There is also a small dip in front of the green that I suspect may have sunken in over time. It results in the front of the green having a little upslope that can kill an approach shot pretty well dead in its tracks. The right hand bunker is a pretty big one and has caused no end of trouble over time. The green itself slopes from back to front and it drops away on the back and to the sides. I haven't actually played the New in quite a while, but they always had longish grass on those banks at the back and sides, so balls will tend to hang up on them. I think it would be interesting to cut those down to fairway length and let balls run further away from the hole. I do like the 10th on the New. I think it's a challenging hole that has plenty to hold the interest of the player, but the 10th on the Old as I said is one of my favourites.

Old wins. Match all square.

[Mark Fedeli]

Mikey, I've been busy, but I'm sure you've been dying for my updated scorecard. Here it is:

Hole 1: New
Hole 2: New
Hole 3: Old
Hole 4: New
Hole 5: New
Hole 6: New
Hole 7: New
Hole 8: New
Hole 9: Old
Hole 10: Old

New 4 Up, but Old is making a comeback (unlike you and me this past Saturday).

[Michael Felton]

Thanks Mark - I'm going to wait until tomorrow for my next update to let people who want to catch up catch up.

[Sean_A]

To some degree, this matchplay is one of the worst possible.  WHO is great much more because of how it comes together (I know, a rather vague way of looking at it) than for individual great holes - I assume the New is much the same.  That strikes me as Fowler all over.  Few cite his holes among the best going, but Fowler more than any of the ODGs had a style quite his own that is impossible to properly describe - all his courses look and play differently. 

Ciao

[Tony_Muldoon]

Now's as good a time as any to remind people what a great day out watching the The US Open Qualifying event is.  You only pay about £5 to park and the you walk around following some of the (nearly) best golfers in the world with no ropes.  One year I watched Oliver Fisher hit a 370 yard tee shot followed in the next group by a young Rory McIlroy hit it 20 yards further.  It's 36 holes so they play al day.  Refreshment stands are available.

Make sure you can stay until approx. 7.30pm. there's always a sudden death play off for the last place and alternate shot.
As the Sky camera's showed, I was standing next to Michael Campbell when he was handed his ticket and look what happened next.
Unfortunately I'll be away on the 26th this year but I'd recommend everyone to go.

http://www.waltonheath.com/Tournaments/USOpen.aspx

[Michael Felton]

Definitely agree about going to the US Open qualifier. You can get right out there and up close with them. They're quite good too. I watched Maarten Lafeber (no idea if I spelt that right) shoot 64 on the Old and 66 on the New. Pretty impressive. He did qualify with that.

Anyway, on to the 11th.

The Old:



The New:



The Old 11th is a par three. Distance varies considerably depending on the tee that you play. The back one is 222. From there this hole is quite hard. The more forward tees are more playable although still not easy. The kidney shaped bunker in the front of the green is very deep. I don't think you can see the green from it so it's taller than me. The green itself is quite sloping and it makes it hard to hole a putt. I've not seen many 2s on this hole in my time (from me or anyone else). The green sits across the player angled from short right to long left and that basically mirrors the slope. The front right is the lowest part of the green. It does start to slope away on the left hand side though. This is a hole that plays very differently depending on where the flag is too. Over on the left, it's a far more challenging tee shot and just looks hard. If it's on the right, it looks far more inviting (although the trouble may not be any further away). A very pretty hole that I thoroughly enjoy and you always feel good walking off here with a 3.

The New is a par four that turns slightly to the left. The heather on the left here is pretty thick and you really don't want to miss this fairway. Up by the green is a wonderful bunker on the front left. It's well short of the green and serves to foreshorten the green when the flag is behind it. It has a huge bank in front of the bunker that's covered in heather. The sand is maybe only a foot or so below the level of the fairway, but you can't see the green if you're in it. To the front right is another very challenging bunker. This one is set in a deep hollow. I have heard that there was a member who couldn't get out of this bunker, so if he went in it he would have to concede the hole and ask his opponent to get his ball for him. It's a good 10 feet down I would estimate. The two of them combined make it hard to run anything in to this green (hence the need to hit the fairway). This is a hole that you have to hit your shots on or you'll struggle. The green itself is pretty flat and quite large. Very hard to hit it close here although the advent of the laser will help with that. There's also a little grass bunker hollow on the right hand side of the green that I think has a golf ball magnet in it. Awkward spot.

This is a pair of very good holes IMO. I could easily see this being a draw. The Old has the better green and the better green surround. I think I have to give this to the Old.

Old 1 up

[Sean_A]

Michael

Do ya think the club is missing a trick by not extending Old's 11th green toward the tee - between the bunkers?  On the tee I thought that area was green, but its fairway grass.

Ciao

[Tony_Muldoon]

The US Open Qualifying was on Monday, I wasn’t in town but understand the weather was poor.  Check out the withdrawals below.  From previous years I can vouch that these ”professionals” mostly can’t be bothered to complete the 36 when a) they scored poorly in the morning and b)rain is forecast.  Sad what a soft bunch of pampered p’s we choose to reward.

Interesting that Harrington blamed lack of knowledge in part for his score.

As before there was a sudden death for the last spots.

Best report I’ve seen
http://www.irishgolfdesk.com/news-files/2014/5/26/us-open-sectional-qualifying-walton-heath 

[Michael Felton]

Michael

Do ya think the club is missing a trick by not extending Old's 11th green toward the tee - between the bunkers?  On the tee I thought that area was green, but its fairway grass.

Ciao

Hi Sean,

There's not a huge amount of difference in playability between the greens and the fringes. They certainly could do that. I'd be a little worried about balls rolling back off the green down there. I haven't played it in firm dry conditions in quite some time now, so I can't be sure.

Apologies for the delay on this. Hole 12 upcoming.

[Michael Felton]

Hole 12:

Old:



New:



Another interesting match up here. I'm going to start with the New this time. This hole is a bit of a monster. It's played as one of the holes in the combined course from the tee on the right (actually a little shorter than the one shown with the yellow line). From the left hand tee, the hole is around 480 yards and into the breeze, that bunker is tough to carry. The fairway can at times be hard to reach. If you can't carry the bunker, the fairway plays very narrow. Even if you can carry it, the fairway is still awkward to hit as the left half of it is blind. I spend a lot of time in the heather on this hole. I tend to hope to get through this and the next in 9 shots. If you hit the fairway, there is then a pretty wide bunker in front of the green that protects the right half. The bunker to the left is pretty deep and the green all slopes away from it. The contouring around the right and back of this green is very good indeed. The green itself is enough kidney shaped and with the slope away from the bunker with a back left pin, you can wind up with an unputtable putt. That tends only to get you if you miss the fairway and get a playable lie though. Then that bunker in the front becomes very tough to carry and you have to play to the left of it. You can catch the green doing that, but you'll be left with a very difficult putt. It's a wide fairway here, but you have to hit it if you want a decent shot at making par. I like this hole a lot and it's got one of the best green complexes on the course. Unfortunately it's up against one of the best holes I know.

The Old. From the tips and played as a dogleg, the yardage on the card is 370 or so. The road that runs across the fairway is at around 250 or so. It varies depending on the line that you take. The bunker on the inside of the dogleg is very deep and not where you want to be at all. You can play out to the left and the tee shot is a pretty easy one, but the further to the right you play, the better your angle of approach to the green. The green itself is very narrow, but quite deep and from prime position in the fairway next to the bunker or better still over the bridle path and in that little corner on the right, is a pretty simple shot. From the wide part of the fairway, the shot requires a tremendous amount of precision. Especially when the green is firm in the summer. If you try to get too cute, that bunker in the front left is very deep and gets quite a lot of action from people who took the safe option off the tee. I think this is a great example of a hole that you can stand on the tee and decide where the difficulty is going to be. Take a chance off the tee or pay for it. From the forward tee, with the right wind, there is another option, which I believe Arnold Palmer once took. Driver at the green. It is hittable, though I've never done it. Threading a needle and there's some pretty nasty heather around if you don't hit it perfectly. Awesome risk reward hole and so many options on how to play it. The green itself is pretty subtle. No huge breaks in it, but a steady drift from front to back and it slopes inward slightly from both sides. It slopes away pretty sharply beyond the left bunker and behind. Another good green site.

I really like the 12th on the New (not particularly when I have a good round going in a medal) and it's one of the best long 4s on the courses, but the 12th on the Old is just magnificent.

Old 2 up

[Tony_Muldoon]

Agree on 12 Old, the most charming hole on the property.


No need to aplogise for the time taken it's a most enjoyable thread.


After The Amatuer Open at Portrush many of the competitors are heding your way.


http://www.palmercup.org/event-info/tournament-news/130-walton-heath-golf-club-to-host-2014-palmer-cup-.html 

[Michael Felton]

Hole 13:

Old:



New:



Par 5 vs par 5. 13 on the New is another hole from the combined course. It's a par 5 on the New, but a 4 on the combined course from a "forward" (slightly) tee. There is a cavernous bunker filling the right half of the fairway at about 300 yards from the tee. It's also slightly uphill, but still reachable in the summer if the breeze is helping. Very important to hit what is a pretty generous fairway. If you do, this is a decent shot at a birdie (as a par 5 anyway), but left of the fairway in the driving zone is the thickest heather on the course (and thickest I've seen anywhere) - it's up to waist high in parts. Good luck even finding the thing, let alone playing it. Into the wind from the purple tee, the fairway is a big carry. If you don't make it, large numbers await. From a good drive position, the fairway drops down and then back uphill to the green (not big slopes, but enough to slow down a running approach). Over the bunker on the right, the fairway narrows significantly which if you miss the fairway is a problem. The green has a good ridge running through the middle of it perpendicular to the line of play. Hitting the green on the wrong tier makes two putts pretty tough. There's also quite a lot of heather around the green that can scupper a marginal shot and the greens bunkering is set well back from the green, so hitting them leaves par a good score.

All that said, the hole is fairly straightforward and there are few choices to make. Hit it straight and then hit it straight again. Maybe lay up to the bunker, but there isn't too much strategy to this hole. Compare with 13 on the Old.

13 on the Old is also a par 5 and I really like it. There are a couple of bunkers in the landing area. The first one is a bugger. It's deep and fairly small and if you hit it in there, you've got to play great to make 5. The second one is more playable from, but has a very large catchment area. If you want to hit the green in two, the line is as close to that second bunker as you dare. When the ball is rolling though, 5 yards left of it will probably go in. The safer you play your tee shot, the longer your second becomes. The entrance to the green is fairly narrow and so it's a big benefit to be able to fly the green with your second. Not easy though. When the ground is fast running in the summer, it's possible to run out through the corner of the dog leg. It's mainly just grass over there, so the penalty isn't too severe. There is another bunker in the fairway about 150 yards from the green. From a good drive, it shouldn't be a problem, but from the bunker on the corner (or the heather over there), suddenly your second shot becomes fraught with danger. The green itself has some great contouring. I do wonder if the green has subsided a little as there is a gully that runs parallel to the approach on the left half of the green that is quite severe. As with most of the greens at Walton, this is a pretty big one and three putts awaits a careless approach shot. The green runs away on the right and there's a dip that can be quite awkward to play from on the right of the green. Some other interesting contouring over the back too.

13 on the New is a good test, but it asks fewer questions than 13 on the Old. 13 on the Old you have decisions to make from the tee shot until the green. Great hole.

Old 3 up

[Michael Felton]

On to hole 14.

Old:



New:



Two interesting holes here. I find myself conflicted. The Old is rejoined here by the composite course and this hole is played as a long par 4 from a forward tee. From the back tees, this is a 569 yard par five and plays as a five on the Old so I'm going to treat it as such. There are a couple of fairway bunkers here. One on the left about 240 yards from the back tee and one on the right about 300 yards from the back tee. The wind dictates your line here. Into the wind, play towards the one on the right. Down the wind you have to hit over the one on the left. There is some fairly nasty heather left of the fairway here. As with most of the holes here, if you miss the fairway you have a very challenging shot to give yourself a chance of hitting the green in regulation. The next bunker in the fairway is right around 100 yards from the green and really narrows the landing area for a lay up shot. The fairway pinches in on the other side too. If you go for this green in two, there is a big dip just off the left side of the green that will gobble up anything tugged left and the bunker on the right will collect most balls that leak a little to the right. The green itself slopes from right to left and up towards the back. The back right hand corner is a little shelf that they put the pin on from time to time. When they do, it's very hard to hit it close. Long and left of the green, the ground falls away around 2-3 feet or so. Another example of great green surrounds.

On the New is one of the harder par fours on the course. I'm not sure how long it is, but I would guess around 420 or so. I hate this hole when I have a decent round going, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The tee shot is mostly blind unless you lay up well short. The pot bunker on the right side of the fairway is around 220 yards from the tee. You can play out to the right with an iron and if you do, the fairway is very generous. Leaves a very difficult approach shot though. I think I've finally figured out that the ideal line from the tee is straight at the flag. You have to hit it long enough to clear the heather if you do that and the angle means if you tweak it a fraction, you won't make the carry. Then you'll struggle to find it. If you leak it a little right, the heather on the other side is sitting there waiting for you. Hit a good drive where you mean it (and get the line right) and it will leave you with a wedge. The green is quite generous to a wedge shot, but not easy to hit from range. There's a bank in the front and a shot landing short will probably be pushed away from the green surface, but a ball landing on the green from range will struggle to stop. If you play it safe off the tee, you're going to have to hit a very well struck or well judged second shot to hit the green. The bunker in the front left is great and the banking around the right and the longer left side of the green is fantastic too.

I'm torn because I think 14 on the Old is a great example of a good second shot par 5. There's no just prod it down the fairway in prep for the next shot and the green and surrounds are wonderful. That said, the New is a great example of risk reward trade off and I've given holes to the Old for exactly that earlier in the round. I could easily see this going either way, but, at least partly in the interest of keeping things interesting, I'm giving this one to the New.

Old 2 up

[Michael Felton]

On to number 15.

The Old:



The New:



Both of these two holes have something in common. Namely that I frequently play them from the fairway of a different hole on the right. The Old 15 is a decent length par 4 of around 425 yards. Those three bunkers down the right hand side gobble up lots of balls and it's tough to hit the green if you go in there. Basically if you're going to miss right, make it by a long way. The bunker that sits right in the middle of the fairway up ahead has a big lip on it and is set back quite a long way short of the green. Although with the advent of yardage books and lasers, this feature has lost some of its effect, it still messes with your head. In mid summer when the ground is hard and fast, you don't want to clear the bunker by much anyway. It's also sitting there waiting if you miss the fairway in the heather. Hit it in there and you're looking a 6 straight in the face. The green itself falls away towards the back and the right and the bunker on the right has a pretty good sized catchment area. It's also a pretty large green, so you can wind up with some very long and quite bendy putts. Other than the bunker, the surround to this green is pretty flat and consistent with the green itself.

15 on the New turns right slightly and tempts you to hit it close to the edge on the right to shorten the hole. If you hit a good shot down there, it pays off nicely, but if you leak it a little bit the heather there is pretty thick. If you run through the fairway on the left, there's not really any heather there, but the angle to the green is far more difficult. I wish that I had a photo of the approach shot. There's a hump on the left and the fairway drops around 3 feet or so 15 yards short of the green. The green slopes from back to front, but it gets pretty fiery sometimes and you can find balls that land in the middle of the green shooting off over the back. Have to judge your approach well on this one. It's a difficult green to read with some subtle breaks all around it. It drops away over the back and to the left is an area of short grass that blends into the tee on 16. The hole to the right of this one is 5 on the Old and I have spent quite a bit of time in that fairway while playing this hole. It's not a good line in, but thank god it's there or I'd have run up some much higher numbers.

In summary, the movement of the land is better on the New and it really keeps you thinking. It's an easier hole than the Old, but you still have to play the shots. The green on the Old is probably marginally better than the New. The New definitely fits my eye better. I'm going to give this one to the New.

Old 1 up

[Mike Hendren]

Looking forward to the finish.

After a month of reflection, I'm still trying to determine whether Walton Heath Old is the best golf course I've ever played.  I was totally smitten.

Bogey

[Jeff Spittel]

Had the pleasure of playing both courses on the same day last month. I thought the Old in particular was spectacular. When you throw in the New and the wonderful ambiance of the club, the members at WH are a lucky bunch. 

[Mike Hendren]

Fair enough Brian, but I'm still trying to determine what I base that opinion on.

What I liked:

The Old is the ultimate bait and switch.  The 1st hole gives absolutely no indication of what awaits across the road.  Having safely crossed the road, it's like stepping from a small hallway into a great wall-less cathedral.   The vista is simply stunning - a large vast playing field resting comfortably on mother nature, a little kingdom all its on.  Standing on the 2nd tee one hopes that the parts are up to the sum.

The individual holes make sense, if that makes sense, as does their routing as one casually steps from green to tee.  The turf is crisp notwithstanding its green hue which contrasts nicely with the native grasses.  The course is a natural beauty devoid of any superfluous make-up.   Transitions from fairway to green are seamless, often almost non-existent.  The fairway bunkering is judicious yet effective, to be avoided at all costs as only the best player has any hope of full recovery.  There is a subtlety to the greens which is not readily apparent.   Few courses require one to judge control of distance as well as accuracy.  The firmness at Walton Heath mandates it.  One senses that this was how the game was intended to be played with pace measured even with a short iron in hand.  The course does not suffer foolishness right out of the gate yet the fool doesn't recognize this until he has opened with higher numbers on the card, perhaps wishing he had played more conservatively until on top of his game.

Most of all, there is no moment during the 3 hours round that one thinks "why did the architect do that? or "why didn't the architect do this?"  Like I said, it all makes sense.

The only knock is that the course played narrow for me and absolutely consumed golf balls.  I can forgive it that, however, as mostly it's my own fault.

I know this is esoteric but I lack the analytical style that I appreciate and envy of so many  on this site.  I've learned an awful lot on this site, but it boils down to this:  I know what I like and I really like Walton Heath.  As much as anywhere I've played.

Finally, I'm most always content to play the great courses once not wishing to over-play my hand.  Walton Heath's different.  I can't fathom skipping it on my next trip to England. 

Bogey

[Michael Felton]

Bogey, heady praise indeed. I know what you mean about the course. The start on the Old is very difficult and you can easily walk off the 7th green 6 over par without really having done much of anything wrong.  Anyway, onwards and upwards. The 16th.

The Old:



The New:



I'm going to start with the New here. From the purple tee, the hole measures 622 yards and as such is one of the longest par fives I've ever played. Definitely the longest on these two courses (although 8 Old is close from the way back tee). It is however also the longest hole I've ever hit in two. It doesn't play that long most of the time. Into the wind, reaching the fairway from that back tee requires a heck of a shot. Downwind and you can at times get pretty close to the heather that crosses the fairway around 200 yards from the green. As with so many of the holes at Walton, there is trouble positioned expertly for the second shot if the first is not well played. If you miss the fairway, you have to either lay up short of that batch of heather (leaving a 200+ yard third shot) or take it on. It's around 30 or so yards long, so you can wind up with a long carry from a questionable lie. Fail to make it and you're looking at 170-200 yards from the heather. Not a good spot for your third shot. At times, from the front tee, you can have to hit 3 wood or long iron to lay up to the heather. If you do that and you're playing downwind, you have a 220-240 yard second to a green that is pretty fiery, as is the fringe. The problem is there's a big crater around 20 yards short of the green slap bang in the middle of the fairway. It's a terror and is positioned pretty much exactly where you would want your second (or third after a poor drive) to land. The general lie of the land here is from right to left, so the play is to land it to the right of the crater. I'm pretty sure that's why (I assume it was) Mr Fowler stuck a bunker there. Hit a weak shot and you'll wind up in a pretty nasty bunker around 40-50 yards away from the green. Another not a great spot. Hit two perfect shots and you'll wind up with an eagle putt. Anything else and you're in trouble. The green here is quite undulating and also slopes generally from right to left. The immediate green surround is pretty flat, but more than five yards away and there are some humps and bumps to deal with. Great hole I think, but it has a problem. It's up against 16 Old.

16 Old is one of the most famous holes on the course (probably the most). It's yet another hole that is played as a par 4 on the combined course, but a par 5 on the Old. It's about 515 yards from the back, 475 from the combined course tee. The fairway drifts from right to left, but the ideal line to the green is as far to the right as you dare. Both sides of the fairway here are trouble. I usually run up the highest scores missing to the left. That's because to the left is not too much heather, just grass, but all sorts of humps and hollows. Consequently you can find yourself thinking you have a shot at the green, but it rarely if ever clears the trees on the left. Hit those and you'll be lucky to find your ball at all. If you miss to the right, you're probably laying up, so numbers tend towards lower. The bunker that is in the fairway I don't recall ever being in. It's occasionally in range off the tee if it's downwind and running very fast, but it's around 350-370 or so from the tee. What it does do is mess with your head playing the lay up shot. The real genius of this hole comes in the green and its surroundings. The fairway breaks uphill to the left once you get around 70 yards short of the green. From there everything breaks left to right. So if your approach shot is hit at all weakly or meekly, the bunker is sitting there waiting to gobble up your ball. It has a very large catchment area when the ground is firm. And what a bunker. It's about 10 to 12 feet from the middle of the bunker to the top lip (height wise). You can't see the flag if you're in there. You can't really see anything other than the wall of sod that stands in front of you. Beyond the bunker, the ground drops away sharply from the green. The banking here is still a good 6 feet high or so. There's also some ball devouring heather over there. You can't miss right with your approach here. The left side of the green there's a grass bunker just short of the middle of the green which can leave you with a very awkward chip. The green itself has a marked tilt from left to right and also a false front, although that is not too severe.

Like I said, I really like 16 on the New, but 16 Old is one of the two best holes on the course (along with 12 Old).

Old 2 up

[Michael Felton]

I found a picture of the second shot on 16:



Incidentally, here is what Bernard Darwin had to say about 16 on the Old. It will surprise no one to see that he does a rather better job of it than I do:

"The second shot is the thing - a full shot right home on to a flat green that crowns the top of a sloping bank. To the right the face of the hill is excavated in a deep and terrible bunker, and a ball ever so slightly sliced will run into that bunker as sure as fate."

[Mark Fedeli]

Excited for the finish of this. Here's my card so far:

Hole 1: New
Hole 2: New
Hole 3: Old
Hole 4: New
Hole 5: New
Hole 6: New
Hole 7: New
Hole 8: New
Hole 9: Old
Hole 10: Old
Hole 11: New
Hole 12: Old
Hole 13: Old
Hole 14: New
Hole 15: Old
Hole 16: Old

New 2up